Most of the GuangDong clans in Hawaii trace their roots to ZhongShan whose ancient ancestry is creolized with Hokkien [en.wikipedia.org] . I believe Hawaii was a refueling stop for ZhongShan human cargo departing Portuguese Macao to their final destination of Peru [en.wikipedia.org] in the 1800's as part of the Portuguese Chinese-slave trade legacy [ssulinguafranca.org] to Latin America and if that is the case then the word "look" may probably come from the Longdu dialect [en.wikipedia.org] .
The clue in the phonetic spelling of 榮 as "ying" on the shop sign below suggests that it is neither Cantonese (wing) nor Taishanese (ven) in origin. According to a friend of mine from KaiPing, there are a lot of words in the Yue languages that do not have a Chinese character attached to it so there is the possibility that this is also one of those indigenous Baiyue words that persevered outside the ancient sino-phere.
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The clue in the phonetic spelling of 榮 as "ying" on the shop sign below suggests that it is neither Cantonese (wing) nor Taishanese (ven) in origin. According to a friend of mine from KaiPing, there are a lot of words in the Yue languages that do not have a Chinese character attached to it so there is the possibility that this is also one of those indigenous Baiyue words that persevered outside the ancient sino-phere.
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TLeeLee
I've noticed that, in Hawai‘i, 肠粉 is typically translated as "look fun" in English. Every single dim sum or noodle shop I went to translated it as such, but the Chinese translation of "look fun" on their menu says 肠粉 or 河粉.
I'm guessing, based on how it sounds, that look fun is originally a Cantonese word (maybe Hokkien or Toisan?). I can't find anything similar sounding in Cantonese dictionaries though. I'd like to know, first, if 肠粉 is called look fun in any parts of China and if so, where?
Also, what are the characters for "look fun"?
Any help is appreciated. Mahalo!